A Girl's Gotta Eat!

Some of my readers may know that I was recently laid off (along with my entire department) due to "budgetary constraints." While I could be really mad about this (and some days, it's tempting), I'm choosing to use this time to my benefit. Getting things done around the house, helping out those who need me during the day, and getting dinner started before Mike gets home. A week or two ago, I found a recipe that had my hubby's name written all over it: Austin-Style Chicken Chili. It came in a pull-out from our recent issue of Food Network Magazine that was "man-themed" in honor of fathers' day. We love trying new chili recipes, and this one caught my eye for several reasons. 1) It was a red chicken chili. Most chicken chili I see is white. 2) You braise said chicken in beer, which is one of our favorite "secret" chili ingredients. 3) It contained chipotle chiles and a habanaro. This last reason caused me slight concern, as Mike certainl...

I realize that Mardi Gras was weeks ago, but I’ve been in the mood for some Cajun cooking (I’m reading a Louisiana cookbook at work). I decided to branch out and try something new and homemade (as opposed to opening a box of Zatarain’s, which is admittedly quite tasty, but not the same.) We were meant to have a softball game Tuesday, but after 2 days of solid rain, the game was cancelled, so I invited my parents over as guinea pigs and made some Jambalaya. I would say the only drawback to the recipe is the fact that it has to bake for 1½ hours, which will not be so great during the summer months when I’m trying to keep the house cool. I’m going to work on figuring out a way to “bake” it in a disposable pan on the grill to work around that. I’ll keep you posted on if/how that works out, because we will definitely be making this again. There are several variations the recipe suggests, but I have listed the recipe how I made it. Instead of the chicken thighs, you may also use 1 whole c...